Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
President Joko Widodo be in the spotlight because they are carrying out a peace mission by visiting Ukraine and Russia in the midst of a war between two countries that is still raging.
Jokowi and his entourage arrived in Ukraine on Wednesday (29/6) morning and immediately held a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky to make a visit to the city of the former war zone.
There are at least four main points from the Jokowi-Zelensky meeting. First, Jokowi pushed for a peace resolution between Kyiv and Moscow even though he realized it would be very difficult.
Second, Jokowi offered to be a messenger to President Vladimir Putin. However, it is unclear how Zelensky will respond and whether the Ukrainian president left a message to convey when Jokowi meets Putin in Moscow.
Third, Zelensky expressed his willingness to attend the G20 Summit in Bali next November on conditions. Finally, the two presidents discussed the threat of price spikes and a global food crisis that was the result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi also said that Jokowi’s visit was carried out to bring the peace agenda to both camps.
However, is Jokowi’s reason for trying to become a Russian-Ukrainian peacemaker?
According to international political observers, this peace effort cannot be separated from Indonesia’s relations with the Soviet Union in the past. Indonesia has a close historical relationship with Russia which began when the Soviet Union supported Indonesia’s independence from the Netherlands in 1945.
By site Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Soviet Union was one of the countries that welcomed Indonesia’s independence when RI tried to gain international recognition in 1945-1950. The Soviet Union also condemned all forms of colonialism.
In the past, Russia has also been a significant source of weapons and military hardware for Indonesia. Until now, quite a lot of the main tools of the Indonesian defense system (defense equipment) have come from Russia.
“Indonesia’s first president, Soekarno, had close ties to the Soviet Union at the time of independence, and that means Indonesia currently has moral ties to Russia,” Kosman Samosir, a lecturer in international relations at the Catholic University of Santo Thomas, told reporters. South China Morning Post.
“Jokowi will be eager to help Russia and Ukraine to find a peaceful resolution to this conflict, as a result of that moral bond,” he said.
This statement was also approved by researchers from the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS), Gilang Kembara.
“There is a feeling of nostalgia for the past among Indonesians regarding Russia. In the spirit of the past, Jokowi wants to try to help [mendamaikan Rusia-Ukraina]”said Kembara.
Even so, Gilang said that the RI-Russia military business relationship is currently “relatively stagnant” due to Jakarta’s shift in focus, which is now more focused on US-made weapons and the threat of sanctions if it buys defense equipment from Moscow.
“Jokowi is pragmatic and he will look for hanging fruit. He is not an idealist. It will be difficult for Jokowi to be an ’emissary of peace’ when he has little knowledge of the historical context, although it would be a very big win for Indonesia if he succeeds, “he said.
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